{"id":38610,"date":"2024-10-08T03:14:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T10:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=38610"},"modified":"2024-09-22T03:20:35","modified_gmt":"2024-09-22T10:20:35","slug":"lets-build-cathedrals-not-shopping-malls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/lets-build-cathedrals-not-shopping-malls\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s build cathedrals, not shopping malls"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do Joe Biden, my own extended family and sabbath rest have in common? Reading The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity<\/em>, falls at an interesting time. At the time of writing (although I recognize things may look very different by the time this blog post is published) our nation is grappling with questions of age, competency and cognitive decline that is common as we humans grow older. According to Stephanie Sy of PBS News, current polls indicate that up to 80% of voters feel that President Biden is too old to serve another term.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

My own family has been blessed with longevity. My paternal great-grandmother lived to be 98 and her daughter, my grandmother, was also in her late 90\u2019s when she passed. But I have also witnessed in my own family the pain and sadnesses of steep mental decline, Alzheimer\u2019s, and dementia. I\u2019m sure many of you have likewise walked that road with loved ones.<\/p>\n

So I frame this week\u2019s reading against the backdrop of the national conversation about age as well as my personal experiences. Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott start from the premise that longevity is increasing and so many people who are born today will likely live to be 100. They see this as a gift, as well as a challenge to confront with intentionality. The \u201ctangible\u201d or financial implications are obvious; but the development of one\u2019s \u201cintangible assets\u201d is worth careful consideration. These \u201cintangibles\u201d include such things as our friendships, our knowledge and even our physical fitness.[2]<\/a> Reading this, my thoughts quickly turned to the intangible asset of our mental acuity. The question that begs asking is what if our physical longevity extends to 100 years, but our mental acuity doesn\u2019t keep pace? What if, as some are saying of President Biden, one\u2019s desire to continue working later in life is not matched with the cognitive ability to effectively do your job?<\/p>\n

Broadly speaking, Gratton and Scott\u2019s solution to extended longevity is to cultivate a flexible, non-linear approach to life stages. Education, work, rest, family life and self-improvement should all ebb and flow as needed. Here the authors argue that the real key to success in this ebb-and-flow approach is becoming a master of transitions.[3]<\/a> The better we manage the inherent stress of transition the more adept we become at change. To me this speaks of the need for Sabbath rhythms. I mean this not only in the literal sense of one day off work every week. I\u2019m thinking more of a posture that seeks out rest and renewal when we need it. This certainly includes a weekly break and also a cycle of extended renewal in the form of a sabbatical every so often, traditionally after seven years of work. But it\u2019s more than that. I envision a posture that readily seeks out solitude, spiritual retreat, and \u201cre-creation\u201d as Gratton and Scott mention.[4]<\/a> In all honestly, I don\u2019t know that this posture does much to address my earlier concerns about mental acuity, but it is essential to extending productivity and avoiding burnout.<\/p>\n

This all leads me to one final, potentially thorny, question. I can\u2019t help but wonder if the emphasis on flexible, non-linear life stages worsens the divide between vulnerable populations and those who are well-off. The flexible approach might work great for someone who can afford to stop working in order to pursue more education and change careers. Likewise, those in so-called white-collar fields may be able to work well into their advanced years, while those in physically demanding manual labor jobs may find that impossible. Even Gratton and Scott\u2019s counsel to follow best-practice advice on healthy living as \u201ca cornerstone of making the most of the gift of longevity\u201d[5]<\/a> is easier said than done for those who face inequities in the healthcare system. This is the same criticism that is commonly levied against the transhumanist movement. While I recognize that The 100-Year Life<\/em> is not directly promoting evolution to a post-human state, some similar undercurrents can be felt.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

All in all, despite the hesitations I\u2019ve expressed in this post, I appreciated the model Gratton and Scott presented. There is one idea from the book that best summarizes it for me, and I\u2019ll leave you all with this quote to finish: \u201cIn a long life, you have the potential to build a cathedral rather than a shopping mall.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/show\/neurologist-weighs-in-on-concerns-about-the-age-of-presidential-candidates<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Gratton, Lynda, and Andrew Scott. The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity<\/em>. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020. 78.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 100.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., Ch 8.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 92.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Transhumanism<\/a><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Gratton, Lynda, and Andrew Scott. The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity<\/em>. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020. 136.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do Joe Biden, my own extended family and sabbath rest have in common? Reading The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity, falls at an interesting time. At the time of writing (although I recognize things may look very different by the time this blog post is published) our nation is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,3205],"class_list":["post-38610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-gratton","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38611,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38610\/revisions\/38611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}